Psychological foundations of technology-mediated educational process management: a narrative review

The rapid proliferation of educational technologies has outpaced systematic understanding of the psychological principles that should inform their design and implementation. This narrative review synthesises research on the psychological foundations of technology-mediated educational process management, employing Scopus AI-assisted literature discovery to comprehensively map the theoretical landscape. The review examines how cognitive load theory, self-determination theory, self-regulated learning frameworks, social cognitive theory, and affective perspectives inform the design of learning management systems, adaptive learning platforms, intelligent tutoring systems, and learning analytics applications. It analyses how educational paradigms - constructivism, connectivism, humanism, and critical pedagogy - shape technology integration approaches. The synthesis reveals significant gaps between psychological research and educational technology practice, including under-theorisation of many technology implementations, methodological limitations in evaluation studies, and insufficient attention to diverse learner populations and cultural contexts. To address these gaps, the paper proposes the psychological integration framework for educational technology management (PI-ETM), a four-layer model that connects psychological foundations, educational paradigm alignment, technological instantiation, and contextual implementation. Seven guiding principles - theoretical explicitness, multidimensional integration, paradigmatic coherence, learner-centred adaptation, teacher empowerment, contextual sensitivity, and ethical grounding - structure framework application. Implications for researchers, designers, practitioners, and policymakers are articulated, alongside a future research agenda that addresses emerging technologies, including generative AI and extended reality. The review presents a unified conceptual architecture for psychologically informed educational technology, guiding both scholarship and practice.